Album



UNITED STATES PATENT QrrIcE.

M CHAEL P. .nvANs'oF cIIIoAeo, ILLINOIS.

ALBUM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 359,670, dated March 22, 1887.

Application filed May 21, 1885.

To all whom, it may concern.- A Be it known that I, MICHAEL P. EVANS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook, State of Illinois,

have invented a new and useful Improvement in Albums, of which the following is a speci fication.

This invention relates more particularly to albums designed for holding a large number of cards or photographs, and especially serviceable for police service! The first feature of my invention consists in improvements in albums wherein the leaves are attached to a stub-block. Albums have heretofore been provided with a stub block made wedge-shaped in cross-section, and with the leaves decreasing in width from the outer leaves to the middle of the book. Under my improvement the stub-block is'composed of a series of independent strips slot-ted from their rear edges and held together by bolts, which pass through said slots and portions of the cover, and which are provided with tightening-nuts, whereby the stub-strips can be firmly clamped together and held against'the back of the book, and also whereby, when desired, the nuts can be loosened and any one of the stubstrips removed, so that its allotted leaf containing a number of pictures can be conveniently carried to any desired place for inspection.

The next feature of my invention relates to the particular arrangement of slits in the album-leaves, whereby cards or photographs can be attached to both sides of the leaf, and the capacity of the album be thereby considerably increased.

Heretofore an album-leaf has been provided with short diagonally-arranged slits for holding the cardsfor example, as in Patent No. 281,102but without special provision for attaching to the leaf two sets of cards-one on each side of the leaf-at the same time.

Under my improvement a leaf is provided with one set of diagonal slits arranged so that several rows of cards or photographs arranged upon one side of the leaf can be held thereon by inserting their corners into said slits, and the leaf is further provided with another set of short diagonal slits, which, while covered by the cards just mentioned at one side of the Serial No. 1f 6j233. (No model.)

leaf, will be available at the opposite side of the leaf for receiving and holding other rows of cards.

Figure l is aperspective view of the album closed within a casing, with the door of the casing open. Fig. 2 represents the album removed from the casing and in an open c0ndition. Fig. 3 is an end edge view of the album closed. Fig. 4 rep resents, on a somewhat larger scale, a portion of one leaf attached to one of the strips or stubs which go to form the stubblock, said view also illustrating the way in which cards or photographs are applied to both sides of a leaf.

The album herein shown, while serviceable in connection with a case, A, wherein it can be shut up when not in use, may, however, be used independently of any case, as preferred. Where a case is employed, it is preferably provided at the front with any desirable means for opening and closing it, such as one or two hinged or sliding doors, or, for example, a single door, A. The case serves as a support for the swinging album B, and in addition to such function it subserves the purpose of a means for shutting up the album, so as to protect the same from light and dust when not in use. If the presence of a lock for the door is desired, the album can also be locked up within the case, and thereby placed out of reach of unauthorized persons.

The album is hinged at its back within the case, preferably to one of the side walls of the latter, in which way, when the case is open, the album, no matter how large and heavy, can be easily swung out from the case into position to be opened and inspected, and afterward swung or folded back within the case.

As a simple and convenient form of hinge for hanging the album, hooks and eyes 0 and C may be, employed, which construction admits of the album being readily hung within the casing or bodily removed therefrom.- It is obvious, however, that a variety of other known forms of hinges may be employed in place of the hook-and-eye construction herein shown.

The sides b of the cover are flexibly connected with or united to the back I), and the said back is preferably stiffened and strengthened by a strip, b of wood or other appropriate stiff material, which, in the event of hinges-such, for instance, as the kind shownbeing employed, serves as a desirable bed for such portion of the hinge as it is necessary to secure to the album.

The leaves D are secured along their inner back edges toastub-block, E, which is applied against the inner side of the back portion of the album, the re-enforcing strip 2) being adapted to form such inner side of the back where it is employed. The stub-block is substantially wedge-shaped in cross-section, and is about equalin length to the length of the back 'of the album. The flexible joints between the leaves and the stub-block are formed along the double-beveled or double-inclined side portions of the latter.

For the purpose of preserving the desired symmetrical proportions of the album, the leaves successively decrease in width from the first and the last leaf toward the middle of the series, thus adapting them to the wedge shape of the stub-block, and permitting their outer edges, when the album is closed, to lie within the compass of an ordinary-shaped book.

The stub-block is composed of a series of strips, 6', one of which is shown in Fig. 4:. These strips are somewhat thicker than the leaves, thereby compensating for the thickness of the cards or photographs attached to the leaves. This will be readily understood by reference to Fig. 4, wherein a leaf is shown secured in a stub-strip, which construction will be understood to apply to the collection of leaves and stub-stripsin thepreceding figures.

The stub-strips successively increase in width from the two outer strips to the middle of the series, so that when they are arranged with their edges at one side against a plane backing the positions of their opposite edge will form the double incline of the stub-block, as at e c. The leaves are flexibly hinged to the stubstrips, a convenient fastening being attained by dividing each stub-strip along one edge and securing one edge portion of a leaf between the divisions of a stub-strip, stitching or other fastening being usual to maintain the leaves in connection with the stub-strips.

The leaves may be sufficiently flexible to bend along a line parallel with and adjacent to the edges of the stub-strips, so that when the stub-strips are clamped together by bolts F, to form a compact and practically solid stub-block, the leaves will bend along their line of junction with the stubblock when the book is opened, as in Fig. 2. By such arrangement the portions of the leaves clamped in the stub-block obviate the necessity of flexible hinge-strips attached to the leaves and secured in the stub-block, the leaves themselves serving at points along the stub-block as hingeconnections between such parts of the album.

The bolts F serve to retain the stub-block in place within the cover, and are each preferably provided with a tightening-nut, f, as in Fig. 3, whereby the component parts of the stub-block can be held firmly between the two narrow side flaps or extensions, 1), of the back, the sides I) of the cover being under such arrangement flexibly united to the extensions 1).

The stub-strips are made detachable from the album, either separately or as a whole, for which purpose each stub-strip is provided with angular slots 0 opening at the rear edge of the stub-strip.

The stub-strips can be held by the bolts passing through the inner portions, 0*, of the slots, which said inner portions are parallel with the inner edges of the strips, and hence to detach a stub-strip it will simply be necessary to loosen the nuts upon the bolts and then shift the stub-strip in a direction parallel with the back until the bolts are opposite the entrances to the slots, after which the stub-strip can be readily drawn away from the back of the album and freed from its connection with the bolts.

It will be observed that in opening the albnm for example, as in Fig. 2-the leaves at either side of the middle ridge or apex of the stub-block can be swung back with one of the side covers, with all of the leaves thus swung back lying in a flat body against the side of the cover, it being evident that it is unnecessary for any bend to occur in a leaf excepting along the line of junction between theleaf and the stub portion of the book, it being understood that the bend along such line is simply in the nature of ahinge-joint between the leaf and the stub-strip,orbetween the leaf and the stub-block, when the latter is considered as a block provided with double-inclined side. portions, 0 c. As a further illustration of the effect ofthus arranging and securing thcleaves, let it be supposed that the album is open at the middle. Under such condition the leaves united or hinged along one of the inclined sides of the stub-block will lie flat on one sidc,while the leaves at the opposite inclined side will lie flat at the other side of a line taken longitudinally along the stub-block, which being thus secured constitutes in effect a portion of the back of the album.

In order to adapt each leaf to holda considerable number of photographs or other like cards, each leaf is provided with a number of slits, g g, which are formed entirely through the leaf, with each slit of a length suitable for receiving one of the corner portions of a photographic or other card. These slits are arranged in zigzag lines, substantially as shown, do that after one side of a leaf has been filled with cards, which are held in place byinserting their corners through the proper slits, the unoccupied slits lying at the backs of these cards can be utilized to hold a number of cards placed against the opposite side of the leaf. This will be more clearly understood by special reference to Fig. 4, wherein cards held against both sides of aleaf are shown. In this figure the slits g are designed for the cards G, placed on one side of the leaf, while the slits 3o 7 that while for some purposes it may be espeg are designed for the cards G, placed on the opposite side of the leaf, of which latter a portion is shown broken away for convenience of illustration. 7

For each card G four slits y are provided, one for each corner of the card, thus providing several rows of sets of slits g, with four slits to each set; but in addition to these slits similar slits, g, are likewise provided for the cards G, said slits g beinginterspersed in the rows, so as to render them accessible from one side of the leaf after the slits ghave been utilized by the cards applied to the opposite side of the leaf. Each sheet or leaf is thus provided with several series of slits, which lie in zigzag lines running from the back or stub end of the leaf to the outer end thereof, said lines of slits being adapted to alternately serve for the cards at opposite sides of the leaf. Thus, commencing at the top of the leaf shown, the zigzag line or row of slits 9 serves for the top corners of the cards G at one side of the leaf,"

the slits g of the next lower line or row serve for the top corners of the upper row of cards G at the opposite side of the leaf, the next lower row of slits, back of said row of cards G serves for the lower corners of the first upper row of cards, G, and so on.

The features of the album hinged within a case is not herein claimed, it being obvious cially desirable to thus support the album, for other purposes it may be desirable to simply place the album upon a stand, counter, table, or other like support.

In conclusion, it will be observed that by the foregoing construction and arrangement a large number of removable leaves can be employed, and at the same time a heavy album e, slotted substantially as described, combined, 5 with the leaves adapted for holding photographs and attached to said stub-strips, the bolts F, arranged to pass through the stubst'rips, and nuts applied to the bolts to clamp the stub-strips together and hold the stub- V block against theback of the album-cover, substantially in the manner set forth.

2. An album havi ng its leaves severally provided with the two sets of short diagonallyarranged slits for respectively holding in rows upon opposite sides of the leaf one and the other of two sets of cards orphotographs, as herein set forth, the slits g being arranged for holding the corner portions of the cards of one set upon one side of a leaf, and the slits 9 being arranged for holding the corner portions of the cards of the other set upon the opposite side of the said leaf, these slits being disposed as shown, so that cards can be held in rows on both sides of a leaf at one and the same time, with the slits for holding one of said sets of cards upon one side of the leaf concealed at the opposite side of the leaf by the cards held upon said opposite side, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

MICHAEL P. EVANS. 

